And what does this have to do with reliability of the car?

 

Well it all depends on how you define "reliabiltiy." If you mean just general lifespan or how easy the vehicle breaks down, it has nothing to do with it.

But it you want to include seasonal performance and spinning out on a routine turn doing 20-25MPH on a slightly wet road, then it should pplay a part in consideration of reliabilty.

If I can't even drive the S2K in a little bit of rain but my AWD can take it like a champ... then in my book, how can you NOT include it in reliability. I can RELY on my Evo in the rain.

Not saying this is common for majority of S2K owners just 2 people I know that had a mishap on a daily drive to work. Take it how you want to take it.

 

Alright alright, let me chime in.

I have had both. We had an S2000 for 5 years, all of which were severe tracking and autocrossing. I got the Evo after 2 years of the S2000 (the S2k was technically my dad's car). But we continued tracking them both very hard, the S2k saw track days year round since we'd drive it to my dad's condo in San Jose and do tracks around there.

We had ZERO, I repeat ZERO, non-idiot-owner/shop related problems with the S2000. Zero.

We had lots of "hey lets make this car a race car" problems though. But you'd run into those with any car. Here's the list of the more major ones and smallish descriptions:

First off, clutch (it was cheaper than the Evo btw, you just have to avoid going to dealers who rip you off): Two stupid drivers who were way out of practice on driving clutch that jumped into racing a car with a clutch...

Second, had the motor built (it wasn't broken before) still worked wonderfully but the engine was built for maximum craziness N/A... and my dad decided to slap a sc on it. So the motor broke a few months later from too much torque on the super lightweight crank.

Third, tranny had a very very very slight grind in one gear and a few other small issues (this was after like 3 years of hard racing). We didn't care, but there was a train wreck (like the recent BMW boat wreck) and there were about 6 or 7 s2ks on the train. They were new ones and the new trannies are much much better than our's (it was a 2000, they were '05s). And they were about 1/4 the price of OEM new, so we grabbed one.

Fourth: on the way home from an autocross our rear passenger wheel studs sheered off, obviously we hadn't torqued the lugs enough, again, stupid drivers...

Fifth, after another year or more of more craziness (AEM EMS, which had problems because of the AEM software, not because of the S2000) stripped the car, welded on hard top, ripped out AC, heater, welded in roll cage and seats, etc etc. The car was having severe heat issues on the track. Again, not the S2k's problem, but our fault since we hadn't upgraded anything there, and because the SC was causing large amounts of heat. Upgraded the radiator system (fan, etc) and swapped for a turbo.

Car ran perfectly for another little while (except for a bunch of minor/major issues caused by a crappy shop doing a crappy install of the turbo) then we sold it because racing it was getting boring since we didn't have the time to go to more than the single local track.



Now for the Evo:

Engine failure, sub 3000 miles, oil starvation, no apparent reason for running out of oil other than a shoddy made engine (even the dealer said so, after warranty was denied for "owner fault")

Tranny grind, no big deal to me, I'm not ripping through gears, so I'd just do 3rd a little slower than the rest so it wouldn't grind.

TC, failed, no apparent reason (I never ever launched the car, it was only driven on track and DD, no drag racing).

HID ballast failed, no apparent reason

Tons of Check engine codes that triggered for no apparent reason (ala P0300, but I didn't have P0300, it was other various codes).

The seats were already wearing out.

And not that I cared, but the brakes were peeling, fading, and the dust boots were cooked (none of that mattered, but the S2000's brakes were fine from day one, but they weren't painted, nor big giant brembos stopping a big heavy sedan).

Oil change, TC, brake fluid, rear diff, and tranny every 3k miles (because it was tracked a lot as well, during the spring-fall months). That all cost a lot more than the S2000's simple oil change every 3k miles and the tranny after every 15k...

And the suspension was toast after 3 years, but that wasn't Mitsus fault, it was because unlike the S2000 the Evo wasn't getting new suspension every damn day, and I had JICs on the Evo that were already used for a year before I put them on...

PS: EVERYTHING is more reliable than an Evo

 

I've owned Evo8 from 2003 till now and only 'problem' I had was clutch.
Since I was into launching, I replaced my clutch real quick when I done about 9000mile.
But other than that, I went to frequent trak race and so on but had not a single problem.

So it will depend on the car (mine's JDM) and how much abuse you give.

 

Is your wife's car faster in the straight or yours?
My friend has Vortech supercharged S2K with 10psi pully and it goes hell fast compared to stock S2K.

 

"Engine failure, sub 3000 miles, oil starvation, no apparent reason for running out of oil other than a shoddy made engine (even the dealer said so, after warranty was denied for "owner fault")"

that is the first i ever heard about evo's.
sorry to hear that. And what was the conclusion , why was the owner fault ? since the car had less then 3k miles...

 

All i had ever owned was Hondas before my evo, ALL from an 86crx to a 02 RSX were reliable and cost me next to nothing to maintane. I took good care of them and they were good to me.

 

A) Mitsu didn't want to fork out the 8k to replace the motor that soon
B) Oil starvation, apparently its normal for a new engine to go through 5 qts of oil in 3000 miles and I was supposed to be checking it and filling it up (it was TOTALLY dry of oil, no leaks or anything ever either)... Who knows why. I think it was a freak though, never ever EVER heard of it happening to anyone else, so no worries for any prospective Evo buyers (except on having a warranty).

Do a search for Warranty Void Evo or something like that, there was a thread forever ago, and a bunch of articles on my car and the whole deal. Its all posted by MSM_S2K though, since my father was kind enough to be my "warranty" and deal with all the BS from Mitsu while I was dealing with college.

 

two friends with s2ks...

one guy was stock and around 20,000 miles he was giving a friend a ride, bang 1st to 2nd, and his drive shaft failed.

the other guy got a puk clutch and ended up breaking axle after axle then ended up breaking his transmission and rear end. then blew his engine lol. ended up switching to the 2.2 engine, and selling it with a spoon transmission. which was silly IMO cause the 2.2 doesnt rev as high and his spoon tranny is shorter gears.. it felt torque but you were shifting way to early.

long story short, stock to minimal mods the evo is just as strong, or stronger.

 

honda is a honda,nothing cost more then breaking a transfer case

 

I have had my accord the just about the same amount of time as my evo and didnt replace anything on the accord yet and I have replaced two clutches and nothing else on my evo due to me beatin the **** out of it........neck and neck.....03 evo.......... 06 accord

 

at 90k my 03 evo haven't given me any problems engine wise or TC, my suspension is rough though, well is still stock. I just replace my stock clutch. also have 92 accord and I have to say that still feels strong at 200k yeah the usual rust on quater panels and fenders but still drives like a champ.

I want to be able to see an evo 250k still going though, I believe in them and if you take care of it ,it will take care of you.

 

I thought Toyota has the best reliability.. I have not done a single oil change on my 89 corolla for the last 3 yrs and still no problem.

 

Im cornfused on what people are doing do their cars........Liek I said before, I have has mine for 3 years now, I have beatin the living **** out of it, and only went through two clutches. I even forgot to cut holes into my turbo oil feed line and drove it crazy like that for awhile........Long story...Ill exlpain through pm if you are that interested lol........NOTHING HAPPENed......this evo is a beast....I love it, nothing wrong with it. what else can I say, I have seen people go through evo like water, and I have seen people stick by them. I guess it matters whether or not the car was built on a friday or not lol.......

 

In all honesty I think this is TOTALLY the truth... And the answer for Honda to that is: Every day at Honda is Tuesday (so you don't still have a case of the Mondays)

Because like I said, after all my problems (which were almost all early on, and not related to driving). I had 0 problems with 3 years of really hard track driving. Granted, I was doing oil, tranny, tc, diff and brake fluid a lot more often than normal, but even my rotors lasted the full 3 years with all the track time spent with race pads ripping them apart. My TC, my engine, and my HID were all flukes. So I think the real question here should be: which manufacturer do you play "reliability roulette" with more? The answer is Mitsubishi.